Traffic signal



Sept. s, 1925.

C. FIFER TRAFFIC SIGNAL Filed Dec. 19. 192s '2 Sheets-Sheet l Sept. 8, 1925.

C. FIFER TRAFFIC seNAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 sarna-i sa CLYDE FIFER, 0F LANSING, MICHIGAN.

TRAFFIC SIGNAL.

Application filed December T0 all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, Cnrnr. Fini-ni1 a citi- Zen ot the United States? residing at Lansing in the count-y of Ingham and State of Michigain have invented ycertain new and useful Improvements in Traffic Signals, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved trafc signal for motor vehicles and seeks, among other objects, to provide a simple and efficient device of this character which may be readily applied to motor vehicles of dir"- ferent makes and which may be easily oper ated for signaling an intention or" the driver to turn or to stop.

The invention seeks, as a further objectJ to provide a signal embodying a single signal arm mounted to swing upwardly to horizontal signaling position and wherein, when the arm is swung upwardly, a circuit will be automatically closed through the signal lamp of the device lor illuminating the lamp housing of the arms.

And the invention seeks, as astill further object, to provide a. signal wherein as the signal arm is swung upwardly, the lamp housing ,will, in, effect, be gradually cnlarged so that beams of light ol" gradually increasing width will be projected troni the housing to thus increase the effectiveness oi the signal.

Other and incidental objects will appear hereinafter.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a rear elevation showing my signal applied.

Figure 2 is an enlarged detail sectional view on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 3 is a` longitudinal sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 2, looking in the direction ot the arrows, and

Figure 4 is a detail sectional view on the line 4 4 of Figure 3, particularly showing the mounting' of the lamp socket employed.

In carrying the invention into effect, I employ a housing 10 which may, as suggested in Figure 1, be screwed or otherwise secured to the side of a. vehicle body, as conventionally illustrated at 11, and mounted to swing upon the housing is a Signal arm 12. rllhe housing as well as said arm may be formed of suitable sheet metal and, as brought out in Figure 3, the arm is hollow and is continued to form. the ,upper section of a lamp casing at 19, 1923. Serial No. 681,586.

their rear ends by lugs 18 extending fromA the side walls of the section. The transparencies 16 may be of Celluloid and cX- tending across said transparencies are dividing strips 2O integral with the side walls ofV the section and bent forward at their lower ends to form lugs 21 embracing the lower edges of the transparencies. The strips 2O are located near the forward end of the section and divide the transparencies into rela.- tively7 small windows 22 at the forward enfl portion of the section and larger windows 23 at the rear end portion of the section, the windows 22 being preferably .colored green and the windows 23 being preferably colored red. Likewise; the sides of the section 14 o'f the lamp casing are cut away to receive transparencies 24 secured by lugs 25 on said side walls. The transparencies 24 may also be of Celluloid and are preferably colored red throughout. Further, the forward end portions oi both of the sections 13 and 14 are cut away to receive transparencies 26 so that the casing' sections are thus provided with windows at their outer ends.

At its inner end, the arm 12 extends into the housing 10 and pivotal'ly connecting tle arm with said housing is a cross pin 2 side wall of the arm 12 near said pinis an eccentrically located rod 28 which eX- tends forwardly through the arm 12 and is engaged aty its forward end through one side wall of the section 14 of the lamp casing at a point near the cross pin 15, the rod being bowed upwardly at its outer end portion to clear the bottom wall gf said section. Mounted upon the dash or other appropriate partof the vehicle is a sector 29 between the ends of which is arranged a bracket 30 and pivotedupon said bracket is a. lever 81 mounting a latch 32 ,to co- .operate with said Sector. Extending from the latch through the outer end portion Engaged at its inner end with one of the lever isl a rod 33 carrying a cap` 34 and housed within the lever is" a spring 35 holding the latch engaged with said sector. Attached to the lowerA end portion of the lever is a rod 36 which extends freelyl through a suitable opening in the side wall of the vehicle body and at its outer end is `pivotally connected with the arm 12" by a hinge 87 secured to the bottom wall of said arm at its inner end. Thus, as will beseen, the lever 81 may be swung to the left, as seen in Figure 1,V fory swinging the signal arm upwardly when the latch will function to hold said arm in elevated position while, by depressing the cap 84 to release the latch, the arm may be allowed to gravitate downwardly to its normal vertical position lying close to the side of the vehicle body.

Mounted upon one side wall of the housing 1()I is an arcuate insulating block 38 mount-ing' an arcuate contact plate 39 and secured to one side wall of the arm 12 is an,V insulating block 40 mounting arspring arm 41 upon the free end-` of which is journaled' a roller 42 toV cooperate with said plate, the arm being preferablycovered by an insulating sleeve 43. Secured at its ends tothe top wall of the section 18 of the lamp casing' is a bracket 44 bent to form a= sleeve 45 and mounted in Said sleeve is a doubleended lamp socket 46, Removably engaged in the forwardV end of said socket is a lamp 47 and similarly engaged in the rear end of the socket is aplug 48 from which lead circuit wires 49 and 50'.4 As shown in ligure, the wire 49 is connected to the i'orward end of the spring arm 41 while the' wire 50 isc'a-rried rearwardly through the arm 12 and through the housing 10- to pro-Y vide an electrical ground return for the lampi. Leading from the battery or other suitable source of electrical energy upon the vehicle into the housing 10, is a feed wire 51 which is' electrically connectedv with thec'ontact plate 39. Thus, asl will be seen, when the arm 12 is swung upwardly, as1previously described, the roller 42 of the arm 41 will travel onto the Contact plate. 39' closing a circuit through the lamp 47 so that saidl lanip will be 'energized for ill'uminating the lamp casing, On the contrary, when the arrn` 12 is' permitted to swing downwardly to its normal position, the roller 42 will travel from the' Contact 39 onto the` insulating' block 38 so that the circuit throughthe signal lai-np will be broken and the lamp eX- tinguish'ed. Thus, the signal lamp will be automatically energized and extinguished Y coincident with the swinging ofthe signal arm and, intliis connection, it will, of course,

.be seent'hat the spring arm 4i will yieldably yholid' the'V roller 42 against the insulating'. block 38 as' well as against the contact plate" 89 soy as to' provide eflcient electrical contact' between the plate and roller.

Attention is now directed. to the fact that as the arm 12 is swung upwardly, the rod 28 will function to swing the section 14 oi the lai-np casing of said arm upon the section 18 of said casing for gradually widen ing the etliective area oi the side and end windows of the casing so that as the arm continues in its upward movement, gradually widening beams of light will be seen at the front and rear of the casing while also, a gradually windening beam oi light will be seen at the outer end of. the casing. Thus, the attention of traiiic will be' directed to the signal and the e'ectiveness thereof coi'- respondingly enhanced.` As will be appreciated, the section 14 of the lamp casing provides, in effect, a shutter to cooperate with the section 13 oi said casing and it is further to be observed that as the arm 12 is swung upwardly, the windows 22 oi:7 the section 14 will be uncoveredby the red colored transparencies 24 of the' section 14 so that a gradually widening green tinted beam of light will appear at each side oi the lamp casing. Upon return of the arm to its normal position, the section 14- of the casing will, of course, be coincidently swung into the section 13 thereof to its normal position. The rod 28, therefore, provides a connection between the arm 12 and the section 14 of the lamp casing by means of which said section will be gradually swung coincident with the movement of said arm. In other words, the rod serves to swing the section in synchronized4 relation to the movement of the arm so that at no' time can the section swing suddenly, but, onthe contrary, the swinging movement' of the sec' tion will gradually pregress-A wth the nieve ment of the arm. It is true that since the lever 31 is manually operated, they speed of movement of said lever, inciden-t to the practical operation of the signal, will vary, and in some instances the lever will, un-A doubtedly, be quickly operated to raise the arm 12. Howe-ver, even in such an instance, the individual movement of the section 14 will be distributed by the rodi 28 over the full throw of the arm so that the swinging movement of said section will, in fact, be gradual as; contrasted with an instantaneous movement of the section such as would occur by gravity in the absence of said rod.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A traiiic signal including a swingingly mounted Ysignal arm having' a constantly closed lanip casing, means fory swinging said arm, and means coacting' between the arm and casing for positively and gradually dilating the casing as the varmL is swung.

2'. A traflic signal includingv a swingingly mounted signal having a constantly closed lamp casing', means for' illuminating said casing, means for' swinging the arm,

and means coacting between the arm and casing for automatically and positively dilating the casing as the arm is swung whereby to release a gradually widening beam of light from the casing.

3. A traffic signal including a swingingly mounted signal arm, a constantly closed lamp casing including a shutter, means for swinging the arm, means for illuminating said casing, and means for gradually Operating said shutter as the arm is swung for releasing light from Jthe casing increasing as the arm is swung.

4. A traic signal including a swingingly mounted signal arm, a lamp casing carried thereby and including a pivoted casing section, means for swinging the arm, means for gradually illuminating the casing, and means for swinging said section coincident with the movement of the arm to release light from the casing increasing with the movement of the arm.

5. A traffic signal including a swingingly mounted signal arm, a sectional lamp casing carried thereby, one of the sections being stationary upon the arm and the other of said sections being pivoted upon the stationary section, means for swinging the arm, and a rod coacting between the arm and said pivoted section for rocking said section when the arm is swung.

6. A traffic signal including a lamp casing comprising like pivotally connected sections normally nested one within the other, and means for positively and gradually swinging one of the sections relative to the other.

7. A traffic signal including a lamp' casing comprising companion channel-shaped casing sections having side walls and one fitting within the other7 means extending through the side walls of the sections pivotally connecting the sections near corresponding ends thereof7 and means for positively and gradually swinging one of the sections relative to the other.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

CLYDE F'FER. [L el 

